Chapter 826 West African Free Trade Zone

In early November, the heads of state of Colo, Ghana, Benin, Burkina Faso and Niger gathered in Dassau, the third largest city in Colo and a major city in the north. Here, they signed the "West African Five Countries Free Trade Agreement", officially announcing the birth of the "West African Free Trade Organization".

At present, the West African Free Trade Organization is an economic organization completely independent of the Economic Community of West African States. According to the "West African Five Countries Free Trade Agreement", the free trade zone formed between the five countries will trade at the lowest tariff and conduct in-depth cooperation in finance.

At the same time, Colo, Burkina Faso and Niger signed an agreement to build a two-way railway passing through the three countries. According to this agreement, the West African Railway Group will invest in the construction of a "Dani Railway".

The Dani Railway will start from Dassau, a major northern city of Colo and also a border trade center, pass through several cities in Burkina Faso and Niger, and finally reach Niamey, the capital of Niger.

The entire railway is more than 700 kilometers long, with a total investment of more than 5 billion US dollars. It will be invested and built by the West African Railway Group and will be responsible for its operation.

After the completion of this railway, it will connect Colo, Burkina Faso and Niger, greatly promoting the economic and trade exchanges between the three parties.

The investment of more than 5 billion US dollars is indeed a lot, but the West African Railway Group will obtain the right to operate this railway-the West African Railway Group will be jointly owned by the West African Group, the Colo Industrial Investment Fund, the Burkina Faso government and the Niger government. The West African Group holds 60% of its shares, the Colo Industrial Investment Fund holds 25% of its shares, and the remaining 15% of the shares are held by the governments of Burkina Faso and Niger.

The entire Dani Railway will be entrusted to China Railway Group for construction. China will provide a 4 billion US dollar interest-free loan for the construction of this railway, which will be repaid in ten years. Therefore, the investment required by the West African Railway Group in the initial stage is only 1 billion US dollars.

After the completion of this railway, it will be convenient for Kolo's funds to enter Burkina Faso and Niger to build factories. The railway is directly connected to the Loda Railway in Kolo, and the products can be directly transported to the port of Lomé for export.

This will create countless economic benefits for the three countries, thereby promoting the economic development of the three countries.

If we only rely on Burkina Faso and Niger, we may not be able to afford the cost of such a railway at all - Niger at least has some oil resources, and although Burkina Faso has some mineral resources, they can be said to be one of the least developed countries in the world, and most of the people are below the poverty line.

However, there are many historical reasons for the poverty in Burkina Faso. What Kolo values ​​is also Burkina Faso's agricultural and mining resources - Kolo has a limited land area and limited land suitable for farming...

Relatively speaking, their domestic agricultural investment is more willing to plant cash crops such as coffee beans and cocoa, so the development of agricultural planting and mining in Burkina Faso can also provide support for Kolo's development.

Niger itself is cooperating with Kolo and China to build a crude oil pipeline directly to the port of Loti.

Some of the crude oil can be refined directly at Kolo's refining base near Loti, and the remaining part of the crude oil can be directly transported to China by tanker. The construction of the Dani railway can also make the exchanges between the two countries closer.

Therefore, with Kolo Capital as the main body, the railway construction that benefits the three countries can also make Kolo's influence spread throughout the three countries - otherwise why would Burkina Faso and Niger be willing to open up the financial field to Kolo.

At the same time, through the establishment of the West African Free Trade Zone, many industries of Kolo can also be developed to other countries.

For example, over the years, Kolo Media Group has successively acquired some TV stations and newspapers in Ghana, Benin, Burkina Faso, South Africa and other countries, and established the Free Africa Media Group, which can spread their voices to a wider area.

The Prosperous Earth Foundation (PEF), led by David Miliband, has also established its African headquarters in Britta, the capital of Kolo, and has begun to invest funds to infiltrate the education and media of countries surrounding Kolo... uh, to fund.

Some young scholars in these countries can get funding from the Prosperous Earth Foundation to study or visit universities in Kolo and England to strengthen their sense of identity.

"Our purpose is to promote the democratization process in these countries and cultivate a group of young opinion leaders who are close to us, so as to spread the concept of "civilization" among their people..."

Of course, compared with this kind of ideological things, ordinary people are more concerned about the increase in income and the improvement of living standards. Kolo is also willing to invest in some basic processing industries to provide cheaper products for the entire Argos retail group and other retail networks.

In addition, Kolo Telecom has also entered the countries belonging to the West African Free Trade Zone and started to build mobile communication networks and broadband facilities in these countries.

In fact, the communications industry in Africa is also developing rapidly. According to the latest research report released by GSMA Africa Mobile Communications in 2011, the number of mobile communication users in Africa is expected to reach 649 million in the fourth quarter of this year. In the future, Africa will become the second largest mobile communications market after Asia and will develop into the fastest growing market for mobile communications business.

The report also pointed out that in the past five years, the number of mobile communication users in Africa has increased by 20% per year, and the total number of users is expected to reach 735 million by the end of 2012.

As the mobile communication industry market in Africa has yet to be developed, nearly 36% of the population in the 25 largest mobile communication markets in Africa still cannot enjoy this service. If the penetration rate of mobile communication services reaches 100%, it will increase the GDP of the entire Africa by 35 billion US dollars, an increase of about 2%.

Due to historical reasons, the mobile communication industry in Africa has been greatly influenced by Europe. Therefore, the most widely used mobile communication technology in Africa is still the GSM standard. This also makes the development of Kolo Telecom, which owns O2 Telecom and can obtain related communication technology from O2 Telecom, smoother.

At present, the construction of 2G network has been basically completed in Kolo, and the assumption of 3G network has been completed in important cities including Britta, Loti and Dassault.

In the West African Free Trade Zone countries adjacent to Kolo, Kolo Telecom is also setting up 2G network, and will build 3G network in key cities.

Especially because Honor Electronics has started construction of a Dopod brand assembly plant in Kolo, more low-priced smartphones will enter the West African market in the future, which will also promote the construction of mobile networks in these regions.